EA Has No Titles in Development for Wii U

Nintendo’s Wii U already had a hard time claiming a significant market share when facing such tough competition from Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation. The last thing it needed then was a stab in the back from what was supposed to be one of its strongest partners: Electronic Arts.

When the Wii U console was launched two years ago, Nintendo and EA promised an unprecedented partnership. But it seems this was not the case, as the gaming developer and publisher announced recently that it has no titles in development for Nintendo’s console.

Since the console was launched, EA created Wii U versions of Fifa 13, Madden, Need for Speed Most Wanted and Mass Effect 3. EA spokesperson Jeff Brown told tech news website Kotaku that this was agreed on under the initial 2011 partnership. EA launched only four games for Wii U, while the original Wii benefited from 78 titles from the company.

Brown added however that although EA is not currently developing any games for Wii U, this may change in the future. Even EA CFO Blake Jorgensen hinted a couple of days ago that the company may in fact be working on games for the Nintendo console.

Either way, the news did not do anything to improve the Wii U console’s situation. The gaming device has been struggling since its launch, with only 3.45 million units sold worldwide. This was mainly blamed on the lack of an impressive and large game library for the console.

The Japanese gaming company did however get support from another major game publisher, Ubisoft. Following EA’s announcement, the Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed publisher said it was developing a series of high-profile titles for the Wii U gaming platform.

An Ubisoft rep underlined that the company already has a solid line-up for Wii U and plans to also release games such as Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag for the Nintendo console.